Game Previews

Boy, that Jake "Bootsy" Gaskill sure gets around! Not even a couple minutes ago, we posted his Gamescom 2010 preview of Portal 2, and now he's already back with a hands-on look at LittleBigPlanet 2. It's like his omnipresent gaming thumbs are all over Germany at once! So, what did Jake have to say about Sackboy's exploits in the new game?

"Picking up the controls after not having played LBP for some time I felt instantly at home. The controls are fluid, Sackboy is slightly less floaty than in the previous game, and the grappling hook adds a wonderful bit of variety to the standard platforming. It seems that Media Molecule have done a great job of iterating on every level of the game’s design, while still maintaining that wholly unique LBP feel."

Also, I don't want to ruin the rest of the preview for you, but I have one word...Cakeinator! Trust me, you're going to love it. But you can see for yourself when you read the rest of the preview.

 

Achtung, Feedsters! We sent our intrepid field reporter Jake "The Snake" Gaskill into the wild of Central Europe...or at least to Gamescom 2010 in Cologne, Germany, where he was able to get his beady little eyes on a new preview of Portal 2. What did he find? Lots of goo, apparently, but you're going to have to take Jake's word for it.

"The demo Valve showed off at Gamescom 2010 followed the same formula as the one shown during E3, with a few welcomed exceptions. In the new demo, Chell is once again guided around by the lovably innocent AI bot Wheatley (only now with the proper voice of the brilliant Stephen Merchant)."

What other new stuff did Jake see? Well, you're going to have to read the rest of the preview to find out. We think you'll like it though, and you can trust us...we're scientists.

 

I can't wait to play Bioshock Infinite, don't get me wrong, but who would really want to go live in a city in the sky? I'm nervous enough at a rooftop party. Just imagine the impracticalities of living at 10,000 feet. Would executives have to ask for a "20,000 foot view?" What if all the kids decide to drop handfuls of pennies over the rail?!!

Regardless, Kevin got a peek at the new demo at Gamescom, raving:

"Above, you can get your first peek at Elizabeth, outside of the trailer. Booker DeWitt, the character you play, is tasked with finding her, and has managed to do so in the sprawling, enormous, floating cityscape of Columbia. However, getting her out is going to be a lot harder than finding her. In fact, I can't describe to you how crazy things get in this demo, which is just a tiny snippet of the game, and about one third of the way into the title."

Learn much much more about the game with our Bioshock Infinite preview.

We knew next to nothing about the multiplayer action of Killzone 3 going into Gamescom, but now Jake Gaskill uncovered a whole host of details and got some hands-on time to boot.  Here's a taste:

"The one word that consistently came up during our time with Guerilla was “new.” New modes, new vehicles, new melee attacks, new class system, new matchmaking, new squad features, new online tournaments, and so on."

Holy Helghast! For more, be sure to check out Jake's Killzone 3 hands-on preview.

Everyone here is very excited for Fable III and not just because we have fond memories of farting around dogs. No, we also like great games and the more we learn about Fable III, the more we like it.

Our correspondent Jem Alexander went to the Fable III preview event at Lionhead Studios, all the way across the atlantic in England and snagged an interview with Fable III Design Director Josh Atkins.

Here's an excerpt from the interview: 

"The marriage and relationship stuff in the co-op mode came about because of fans who told us they would play with their spouse of their boyfriends or girlfriends. But also, when you work in a team at Lionhead you get asked a question a lot by Peter [Molyneux]. It's a question I think that, as developers -- and across the industry in general, is a really great question, which is: What are we trying to make the player feel right now?"

Click here to read the rest of the interview.

Across the pond, Lionhead Studios opened its doors to journalists to show them four hours--yes, that's right four whole hours--of the upcoming game Fable III.

Our own Jem Alexander was on hand to bring us a play-by-play report of what was shown. From the preview:

"So begins the first hour of the game. A well paced introduction, which is more linear and narrative than in Fable 2. A lovable Butler named Jasper, immaculately voiced by British comedy legend John Cleese, wakes you, the Prince or Princess of Albion, from your opulent slumber. It's all very whimsical and cheerful as you choose your clothes and explore the castle grounds with your dog at your side."

There is much much more where that came from, so click here to read the rest of Jem's preview!

Have you ever wished that Gears of War and World of Warcraft would make sweet sweet love and give birth to a beautiful baby? Then you should check out Hunted: The Demon's Forge.

TheFeed's Kevin Kelly got a chance to check in on the game at QuakeCon 2010. From his preview:

The venerable Kingdom Hearts series combine unlike things -- RPGs and beloved Disney characters -- into games that somehow make sense. The latest entry in the series, Birth By Sleep, is a PSP only title in which three youths try to gain the power of the Keyblades to save the world.

Here's what Nikole Zivalich had to say about the game:

"Don't let the Mouse and other Disney characters make you think that this game is childish. This game relies heavily on real-time combat. So much so that they they've allowed you to customize your move deck. You can play through the game hacking and slashing but you won't be taking full advantage of its potential until you begin to customize your moves."

Check out our Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep preview right here.

A website in the UK claims to have gotten its hands on the next issue of Game Informer, and says that it contains a slew of new details on Batman: Arkham City. We have no way of verifying/disproving this info, so take it with a grain of Internet-salt, but the details are below... Spoilers (maybe) of course:

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Shaun White might be best known for his snowboarding, but he's a skater too, and this fall, we'll be able to check out his moves on land in Shaun White Skateboarding, a game that promises to add a fully-fleshed out story and some interesting new gameplay elements to the skate game genre. Tom Price got an early look at this colorful game, and was impressed with the tranformative gameplay:

"The concept at the core of Shaun White Skateboarding is best exemplified by the word 'transformation.'  What the developers mean when they use the word repeatedly throughout demos of the game, is your ability to transform the game world, turning a drab, gray city into a colorful skatepark wonderland."

Read the rest of our Shaun White Skateboarding preview,

If you thought that the PlayStation Move was only for punching your friends and neighbors in the face or racing as a delicious young Japanese woman in an office chair, think again. There's a higher level of thought at work in Echochrome II, and it's going to require a whole lot of thought on your part if you want to be good at it.

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Golden Gun Mode. I don't know about you, but it was the cause of many an argument over a decade ago on my Nintendo 64. Activision brought back GoldenEye 007's perennial friendship-killer at Comic-Con, and Steve Johnson was there to jump in. Thankfully, he and Kevin Kelly are co-workers and not buddies, so they're still forced to hang out even after shooting one another in the face repeatedly. Steve's pretty positive that the nostalgia factor's working in favor of GoldenEye, per this snippet from his hands-on time:

"While online shooters can be seen to provide a 'better' gaming experience to players who are really into their kill/death ratios, if you're more concerned with games being fun than hardcore, split-screen multiplayer is the only way to go. GoldenEye will offer 'modern,' fully online multiplayer, but the split-screen is better--Until last night, I'd almost forgotten how much more awesome it is to trash-talk in person as opposed to over a headset. Suffice to say, there was a lot screaming, good natured cursing, laughing and 'did you see that?' coming from our section of Activision's press event."

Plus, Oddjob's been properly nerfed. Sound like a deal? Read Steve's anecdotes from his play time to learn more.

Bond may be having trouble getting back on the big screen, but he's back on top in the world of video games.  First, there's the upcoming reboot of Goldeneye (our Goldeneye preview, if you missed it) which recast the lead with Daniel Craig on the Wii, and then Activision revealed their newest multiplatform attempt, James Bond 007: Blood Stone.  Now, on the eve of Comic-Con 2010, the king himself, Stephen Johnson, has seen the Blood Stone in action and shared this tidbit:

"While Blood Stone's shooting sequences seem solid enough, 007 really shines during the vehicle levels. The game was made by Bizarre Creations, the developers of Project Gotham Racing and Blur <span class="tooltip-content"> <span class='tooltip-tab-container'> <span class='tooltip-tab-wrapper active' onclick='tooltiptab(this);'><span class='tooltip-tab xbox-360'></span></span> <span class='tooltip-tab-wrapper' onclick='tooltiptab(this);'><span class='tooltip-tab PS3'></span></span> <span class='tooltip-tab-wrapper' onclick='tooltiptab(this);'><span class='tooltip-tab PC'></span></span> </span> <span class='tooltip-active tooltip2 xbox-360'><div class='tooltip-name'><a href="http://g4tv.com/games/xbox-360/61765/blur/index/" title="Blur">Blur</a></div><hr /><span class='tooltip-column'><ul> <li><h6><a href="http://g4tv.com/games/xbox-360/61765/blur/news/" title="Blur news">News</a></h6> (16)</li> <li><h6><a href="http://g4tv.com/games/xbox-360/61765/blur/previews/" title="Blur news">Previews</a></h6> (4)</li> <li><h6><a href="http://g4tv.com/games/xbox-360/61765/blur/review/" title="Blur review">Review</a></h6></li> </ul></span><span class='tooltip-column'><ul> <li><h6><a href="http://g4tv.com/games/xbox-360/61765/blur/videos/" title="Blur videos">Videos</a></h6> (28)</li> <li><h6><a href="http://g4tv.com/games/xbox-360/61765/blur/screenshots-and-images/" title="Blur screenshots &amp; images">Screenshots</a></h6> (17)</li> <li><h6><a href="http://g4tv.com/games/xbox-360/61765/blur/cheats/" title="Blur cheats &amp; walkthroughs">Cheats and Walkthroughs</a></h6> (58)</li> </ul> </span><div style='clear:both;'></div></span> <span class='tooltip2 PS3'><div class='tooltip-name'><a href="http://g4tv.com/games/ps3/61766/blur/index/" title="Blur">Blur</a></div><hr /><span class='tooltip-column'><ul> <li><h6><a href="http://g4tv.com/games/ps3/61766/blur/news/" title="Blur news">News</a></h6> (13)</li> <li><h6><a href="http://g4tv.com/games/ps3/61766/blur/previews/" title="Blur news">Previews</a></h6> (4)</li> <li><h6><a href="http://g4tv.com/games/ps3/61766/blur/review/" title="Blur review">Review</a></h6></li> </ul></span><span class='tooltip-column'><ul> <li><h6><a href="http://g4tv.com/games/ps3/61766/blur/videos/" title="Blur videos">Videos</a></h6> (28)</li> <li><h6><a href="http://g4tv.com/games/ps3/61766/blur/screenshots-and-images/" title="Blur screenshots &amp; images">Screenshots</a></h6> (17)</li> <li><h6><a href="http://g4tv.com/games/ps3/61766/blur/cheats/" title="Blur cheats &amp; walkthroughs">Cheats and Walkthroughs</a></h6> (50)</li> </ul> </span><div style='clear:both;'></div></span> <span class='tooltip2 PC'><div class='tooltip-name'><a href="http://g4tv.com/games/pc/63183/blur/index/" title="Blur">Blur</a></div><hr /><span class='tooltip-column'><ul> <li><h6><a href="http://g4tv.com/games/pc/63183/blur/news/" title="Blur news">News</a></h6> (9)</li> <li><h6><a href="http://g4tv.com/games/pc/63183/blur/previews/" title="Blur news">Previews</a></h6> (2)</li> <li><h6>Review</h6></li> </ul></span><span class='tooltip-column'><ul> <li><h6><a href="http://g4tv.com/games/pc/63183/blur/videos/" title="Blur videos">Videos</a></h6> (19)</li> <li><h6><a href="http://g4tv.com/games/pc/63183/blur/screenshots-and-images/" title="Blur screenshots &amp; images">Screenshots</a></h6> (9)</li> <li><h6><a href="http://g4tv.com/games/pc/63183/blur/cheats/" title="Blur cheats &amp; walkthroughs">Cheats and Walkthroughs</a></h6> (1)</li> </ul> </span><div style='clear:both;'></div></span> </span><div class="arrow"></div> , and the company's many years of car-combat experience show in every second of the game's in-vehicle sections."

As a fan of Bond, shooting people and racing cars, this sounds great already.  For more classified intel, head over to our James Bond 007: Blood Stone preview.

I knew there was something about Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions that reminded me of 2005's diamond in the rough Ultimate Spider-Man. Lo and behold, amidst the four different Spidey personas, Activision has unveiled the final Spider-Man you'll play as in this tale of parallel universes, and it's Ultimate. Steve Johnson jumped into some hands-on time with this newly revealed playable Parker, and here's a glimpse at how he'll play:

"If Spider Man Noir is kind of wimpy when he's not hiding in the shadows, Ultimate Spider-Man is the opposite. He takes on enemies full-on, dispatching swarms of bad guys with powerful attacks in a God of War, beat-em-up style. Ultimate has a rage-meter that allows him to unleash special attacks, as well as the ability to string together devastating combos. The controls are smooth, and while it's a bit button-mashy, that's the intention, and like in God of War, it works very, very well."

So he's like Kratos, minus the high blood pressure? Color me interested. And if you're a shade more intrigued, check out Steve's hands-on impressions from Comic-Con 2010!

It's going to be a while before Dead Space 2 comes out, but like the Cylons, EA has a plan. The solution is Dead Space Ignition, a downloadable XBLA/PSN title coming in the fall that acts as a prequel to the sequel, but yet isn't the first game. Confusing? Let Harold Goldberg help us both out:

"The story in Ignition commences prior to Clarke’s discovery of a Necromorph outbreak in Dead Space 2 while on the massive space station, The Sprawl. But how did the outbreak originally occur? By following the exploits of the characters Franco and Sarah in Ignition, you’ll begin to understand it all in the game that’s somewhat like a backstory to Dead Space 2."

Ahhh, for even more, including a peek at one of the mini-games inside, be sure to check out our Dead Space Ignition first look preview.